The bigger picture

“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” - 1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT

My son asked me tonight, “What happens if you die mom? I don’t want something bad to happen to you.”

It was a moment of choices. I could brush it off with a hopeful “oh that’s not going to happen for a long time,” giving him some immediate comfort but nothing to remember when he is faced with real grief. Or I could slow down and talk to his heart. Give him something real.

So I held him close to me and looked him in the eyes and told him that bad things will happen and they won’t make any sense. It will hurt and be confusing and send you into places you wouldn’t ever choose to go. But God, He is always good.

The best we can do is trust God through our pain. There are events that unfold before us that we don’t understand and probably won’t this side of heaven, because they are part of a greater story.

I took the cover of a DVD laying on the counter and covered up all but a small corner of the image. I asked him “What is that?” He couldn’t tell.

It was confusing, shapes that didn’t make any sense. Snippets of colour that gave clues of possibility. That’s what our lives are like here on earth. We see a part of something and the contours don’t always make sense. “But God, he can see the whole picture” I said, as I slid away the papers covering the image.

I think that trusting God can be like that. Trusting that he sees the bigger picture, the details outside of our view. God’s plans are always for good for those who love him, Romans 8:28.

“Wow. I feel better now. Thanks Mom. Love you.” And off to bed he went, comforted still, but a moment of truth shared between us. Not easy, but real and ultimately good.